Bag holding rack



June 25, 1963 M. J. DWYER BAG HOLDING RACK Filed Nov. 20. 1961 INVENTOR.

MAURICE J. DWYER i M 4/ M ATTORNDJ'.

United States 'atent ffiee 3,095,172 BAG HOLDING RACK Maurice J. Dwyer,San Jose, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to L. W. Moss, SanMateo, Calif. Filed Nov. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 153,301 1 Claim. (Cl.248-97) The present invention relates to bag rack, and pertains moreparticularly to a rack for supporting a cloth bag with the mouth thereofopen for filling, and with the bottom of the bag preferably resting on afloor supporting the rack.

In the linen supply business, restaurants, hotels, motels, doctors,dentists, beauty operators and many other businesses receive a supply ofclean linen for their various uses from a so-called linen supply house,and, after use, return the soiled linen to the supplier for laundering.The soiled linen is usually deposited by the user in a bag provided forthis use by the linen supply company.

In the past, attempts have been made to provide a suitable holder forsuch bags which would support them with the mouth thereof open toreceive the soiled linen as it accumulates, and upon which it would beeasy to mount and remove the bags. Many of these prior holders have beenfound, however, not to hold the bag in a satisfactory condition, whileothers thereof have torn and damaged the bags.

-An object of the present invention is to provide a simple and improvedbag supporting rack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag rack which willpermit the mounting of a bag on, and removing it from, the rack withoutlifting the bag from the floor, and which will support such bag with itsmouth open and without damage to the bag.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag rack comprising aplurality of supporting legs, two front legs thereof being spaced apartsufiiciently to permit a bag to pass freely therebetween even whenfilled, an encircling top frame portion'being open between the frontlegs and a pair of bag engaging ears extending beyond these front legsso that when the mouth of the bag is folded outwardly over the top frameportion the bag will be supported in open-mouth position, ready toreceive articles therein.

These, and other objects and advantages of the invention, will beapparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bag rack embodying the invention, abag being shown in dash-dot lines sup ported in open-mouth positionthereon.

FIG. 2 is a side eleuational view of the bag rack shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational View of the bag rack shown in FIGS. 1 and2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of bag rack,portions thereof being broken away.

Briefly, the bag rack A embodying the invention is illustrated in FIGS.l-3, and comprises a circular base portion with a pair of upwardlyextending forward legs 11 and 12, and an upwardly extending rear leg 13secured thereto. The upper ends of the forward legs 11 and 12 are bentto form bag engaging ears 14 and 15, respectively, while the upper endof the rear leg 13 is bent outwardly at 17. An encircling top frameportion 18 is secured to the upper ends of the legs 11, 12 and 13. Whena bag B (FIG. 1) having a hemmed mouth portion 19 of a size to fitsnugly over this top frame portion 18 is placed within the rack A, andthe hemmed mouth portion 19 of the bag is folded outwardly anddownwardly over this top frame portion, the hem 19a thereof will tend todraw inwardly below the ears 14 and 15 and the top frame portion 18 tothereby firmly support the bag on the rack, and without damage to thebag.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, the bag rack A shown inFIGS. 1-3 preferably is made of suitable wire, rod or tubing of suitablematerial, for example, metal or plastic. The base frame 10 defines acircular area of substantially larger circumference than a bag B,indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1, which is to be used therewith. Thebase frame 10 provides :a firm support for the bag rack A of which itforms a part, and also serves as a suitable anchorage for the three legs11, 12 and 13. The two forward legs 11 and 12 extend upwardly with aslight inward inclination, as does also the rear leg 13, the lower endsof all three legs being firmly secured to the base frame 10. The forwardlegs 11 and 12 are spaced apart by a distance sufficient to permit thepassage of a fully filled bag B therehetween. Each forward leg 11 and 12has a forwardly bent portion 20 at its upper end, then an upwardly bentportion 21 at the forward end of the forwardly bent portion 20, and thena rearwardly bent portion 22 at the upper end of the upwardly bentportion 21 to form the bag-engaging cars 14 and '15.

Each rearwardly bent portion 22 continues rearwardly to form theparallel side members 23 and 24 of the rectangular top frame portion 18.The rear ends of these side members 23 and 24 are joined by acontinuous, transverse, rear top frame member 25. All three of these topframe members 23, 24 and 25 are of substantially the same length, andthe rectangular area defined thereby is approximately equal incircumference to the mouth portion 19 of a bag B to be used therewith.

The outwardly bent portion 17 at the upper end of the rear leg 13permits the hemmed mouth portion -19 of a bag B fitted over the topframe portion 18 to be drawn inwardly over the top frame portion by theusual slight resilient tension exerted by the bag material as a resultof its having been fitted snugly .over the top frame portion 18. v I

The bags B to be used with the present invention preferably are ofcloth, for example, woven, knitted or netted cotton or syntheticmaterial, and are of substantially uniform size. These bags B alsopreferably are of sufficient length to allow their lower ends to rest ona floor or other surface upon which the rack A is supported.

In using the rack A a bag B to be mounted thereon is grasped at itsmouth 19 by the two hands (not shown) of a person who is to place it onthe rack. The hands are placed on the bag generally opposite adraw-string 28, land are separated by a distance equal approximately tothe length of the rear transverse frame member 25. The bag B is theninserted through the opening between the cars 14 and 15, and the hemmedmouth portion 19 of the bag is folded outwardly and downwardly over therear top frame member 25.

The operators hands (not shown) are then allowed to slide around therear corners of the top frame member 25, and thence vforwardly along thehem of a bag as the latter is drawn forwardly while .the hemmed mouthportion 19 is folded outwardly and downwardly over the ear portions 14and 15 to complete the operation. Actually, as will be obvious to oneperforming the operation, if not from reading the present descriptionthereof, this bag mounting operation is performed in one sweepingmovement requiring not more than one or two swonds.

Since the mouth portion 19 of the bag B is, as mentioned previouslyherein, of a size to fit snugly over the top frame portion 18, theoutwardly folded mouth portion 19 of the bag has a tendency to drawinwardly beneath the ear portions 14 and 15, and around all three sidesof the top frame portion 18. This action holds the bag in firmlysupported position on the rack, and the weight of linen in the bag asthe latter becomes filled tends to tauten and increase this grippingeffect.

There are no sharp points or portions of the rack A which tend to causeexcessive wear, or to cut into or tear the bags mounted thereon. A bag Bis left in the rack A until it is filled with soiled linen, at whichtime the operator again grasps the hemmed mouth of the bag beneath thetwo ears 14 and 15, frees the bag from these ears and then slides hishands rearwardly along the hem and frees the bag from the rear top frameportion '18. Then, by pulling upwardly and forwardly on the draw string28 of the bag, which draw string preferably is located between the frontlegs 11 and 12 of the rack when mounting a bag on the rack, the bag canbe drawn closed and dragged between the front legs 11 and 12 in onesimple movement, without even lifting the bag from the floor.

In the modified form C of the invention shown in FIG. 4, the structureof the base a and legs 11a, 12a and 13a thereof is generally similar tothat of the form A of the invention shown in FIGS. l-3. These portionsare, there- .fore, designated by the same reference numerals as thoseapplied to the corresponding parts of the form A of the invention shownin FIGS. 13 with the suflix a added thereto. The difference between :thetwo forms A and C of the invention resides in the top frame portion 30(FIG. 4) which top frame portion is generally circular in shape.Otherwise the structure and manner of use of the rack C of FIG. 4 aregenerally similar to those of the form A of the invention shown in FIGS.l-3 and described previously herein. They will, therefore, be obviouswithout further explanation to anyone familiar with the art who hasperused the foregoing description of the form A of the invention. V

The present invention provides a simple, inexpensive and sturdy bagrack, which is light in weight and inexpensive to manufacture. Severalof the racks may be easily nested together so as to occupy but littlespace. The invention provides a rack upon which a bag of known size maybe easily mounted and removed. It has no points or other parts whichwould be apt to cause tearing or accelerated wearing of the bags whichare used thereon. Also, it is a rack which can be easily and properlyused by even inexperienced and mechanically inept personnel.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred em- 4!. bodiment ofthe present invention, and one modified form thereof, it will beunderstood, however, that various changes and modifications may be madein the details thereof without departing from the scope of the inventionas set forth in the appended claim. I

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is defined in the following claim.

A rack for supporting a fabric bag having a hemmed mouth portion ofknown size, said rack comprising a plurality of supporting legs, two ofsaid legs being spaced apart by a distance sufiicient to pass such bagwhen completely filled therebetween, each of said two legs having aforwardly extending portion at the upper and each of the remainder ofsaid legs having an outwardly extending portion at its upper end, a topframe continuous and integral with the forwardly extending por tion ofeach of said two legs, and connecting the outer extremity of each ofsaid outwardly extending leg portions to the other, said topframe beingomitted between said.

two legs, and being shaped to define an area having a cir cumferencesubstantially equal to that of the mouth of such bag when fully open,the forwardly bent portion of said two legs and the portion of the topframe connected thereto defining, a pair of bag retaining ears, onethereof. being co-extensive with each end of said top frame andextending beyond the upper end of each of said two legs, whereby, whensuch bag is placed within the top frame, and the mouth portion of suchbag is folded outwardly and downwardly and is stretched over the topframe and below said ears, the bag is drawn into the outwardly bentportion of each of said other legs to be supported in open mouthposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FranceJuly 18, 1921 end thereof,

